RELEASE NUMBER: 060821-01
DATE POSTED: AUGUST 21, 2006
Special Forces Soldiers honor First Special Service Force vets at 60th reunion
U.S. Army Special Operations Command Public Affairs Office
HELENA, Mont. (USASOC News Service, Aug. 21, 2006) – U.S. Army Special Forces Soldiers paid tribute to more than 80 surviving veterans of the First Special Service Force, a World War II special operations outfit to which they trace their commando lineage, during that unit’s 60th reunion here Aug. 17-19.
The FSSF, a unique American and Canadian combined force, was activated in July 1942 at Fort William Henry Harrison here and saw heavy action in Italy and southern France before its deactivation in December 1944.
With representatives from all seven U.S. Army Special Forces groups and the U.S. Army Special Forces Command present, the Green Berets – joined by their Canadian Special Forces colleagues – provided interpretive equipment displays, parachute jump demonstrations, and participated in all FSSF remembrance activities during the three-day reunion.
The FSSF is recognized as the predecessor of the U.S. Army’s Special Forces groups, the first of which stood up in 1952 and based much of its original doctrine on the FSSF’s experiences.
On Aug. 17, the reunion’s first day, Force veterans and their families toured Fort Harrison by bus, visiting their old training grounds and watching static-line parachute demonstration jumps by U.S. and Canadian Special Forces Soldiers using a CH-47 Chinook helicopter. The Soldiers took the opportunity to use each other’s parachute equipment, and later held a foreign jump wing exchange ceremony. The Soldiers also displayed some of their military equipment for the veterans and answered numerous questions about their gear’s advanced technology.
